The present invention relates to rack and pinion steering devices for use in motor vehicles and the like.
With conventional rack and pinion steering devices, a blocklike support yoke is pressed against a rack bar by a spring to preload the rack relative to a pinion meshing therewith.
However, the sliding contact between the support yoke and the rack bar involves great resistance, which adversely affects the efficiency of the device. This tendency becomes pronounced especially in the case of manual steering devices.
Accordingly, a support yoke has been proposed which has a roller for guiding the rack bar in contact therewith (see Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication SHO 59-30773).
In this case, opposite end faces of the roller which is made of metal collide with the roller mount portion of the support yoke which is also made of metal, giving rise to the problem of producing a metallic noise. The proposed support yoke has another problem in that friction occurs between the roller end face and the roller mount portion of the yoke to exert an adverse influence on the performance.